Vogue vows to promote a positive body image

Vogue vows to promote a positive body image

By Nick Watts

A health initiative has been launched by international fashion publication Vogue in which all 19 international editors of the publication have signed a pact vowing to promote a ‘healthy body image’ across its international network of magazines.

Alex Shulman, Editor of the UK edition of Vogue commented on the move saying;

“As one of fashion industry’s most powerful voices, Vogue has an opportunity to engage with relevant issues where we feel we could make a difference”.

She added that the initiative “would build on the successful work the Council of Fashion Designers of America and the British Fashion Council have already begun to encourage a healthy approach to body image within the industry”.

Alex Shulman has made it into the spotlight before when in 2009 she admitted editing photos of models to make them look bigger, blaming the designers for sending in samples to the magazine that were ‘too small’. It was one of the first admissions of its kind which highlighted the size prejudice affecting the industry.

Despite this defiance by the UK edition of vogue it was only last year that Vogue in France were involved in the controversy surrounding the Thylane Blondeau Photographs, a young girl in a seductive photo shoot for the magazine. Read the Mental Healthy article about Thylane here.

Caryn Franklyn, a leading fashion commentator and one of the founders of All Walks wrote for The Huffington Post this morning saying;

“Just how Vogue will translate this initiative into tangible progress and a solution that really is a no brainer... is something we all hold await. Just do it Vogue and women everywhere will love you for it!”

So while it sounds like a great step forward it will take to co-operation of designers, editors and models alike to achieve what they are trying to achieve, it will be interesting to see how Vogue move forward with it.